van Eyck series, postscript

While looking through Winfried Michel and Hermien Teske's edition of Der Fluyten Lust-hof  (Winterthur: Amadeus Verlag, 1984) for information about van Eyck's titles, I noticed a Courant that I had missed in earlier searches for rising cadence gestures. No. 33 in vol. 1 is a rare Courant in duple meter (so the editors say, 61). The theme is firmly set on F5 as the upper end of the transposed Ionian ambitus, but the melody's lower end is less certain: it would appear to be A4 but that stretches down to G4 for the cadence of the first half (see *1), perhaps suggesting an implied octave F4-F5. In the variations, van Eyck does finish out the octave (at F4) and then further extends that down to C4 (see the boxes).

The overall point to be made about this is that van Eyck respects the "downward" focus of the tune by embellishing lower and lower and almost entirely avoiding the register above F5, despite the invitation of the G5 that opens the second half (see *2).

A curiosity is that van Eyck turns the obvious half cadence ("obvious" if one is thinking F major, that is) into PACs in G minor in the two variations, thinking more appropriate for a modal conception.

van Eyck series, no. 7

A Courante, no. 24 from the first book of the Fluyten-Lusthof, may serve as a counter-example to L'Avignone. The tune clings throughout to the lower fifth of the modal octave, or D4-A4. In this context, Bb is an expressive expansion as neighbor to A -- see the boxed figure.

In the first variation, Bb is further embellished by C5, a "one-too-far" style of expansion that should be familiar to you by now if you have followed this series of posts on van Eyck. Significantly, this gesture is repeated -- see *1 and *3 below. At *2 the C5 even reaches an accented position and acts as the upper fifth for the cadential F4.

Van Eyck might have exploited the extensions of the second variation, but in fact in the second variation he holds close to the first one. In the two boxes on the first line below, note the upper third embellishments of Bb and A, the former generating the first D5 in the set. The third box (at the end) contains the surprise: a sudden flourish carries the final cadence up to that D5, rather than down to the D4 of the tune. We should not try to interpret this as the unveiling of a rising Urlinie, but rather as a variant of the cadenza-like flourish we have already seen van Eyck employ several times in closing cadences. Here it realizes the ^7-^8 always implicit in the background of a ^2-^1 cadence, but, although the upper fourth is introduced in a dramatic fashion, the lower fifth clearly has priority.

van Eyck series, no. 6

Van Eyck's second setting of Lavignone ("Tweede Lavignione") is much more elaborate in its variations than was the first. He uses the same device as in "Schasamiste vous re veille," where the second part is repeated in each variation with additional diminutions. The point of interest here is the treatment of the ending. An old-fashioned cadence (for 1640, that is) would invite a suspension figure in a two-voice setting: see the first line below, where D5 is a preparation, the accented D5 the suspension dissonance, and C#5 the resolution in a 7-6 figure. In the first variation (second line below), both D and F are displaced by their upper thirds: D becomes F, C# becomes E. The "one-too-far" gesture is added to this, as G5 is an escape tone.

The final line of the figure above (triplets) is reproduced as the first line below. Note that in the subsequent diminutions (8ths and 16ths) E5 displaces F, which is now pushed back into the previous beat, and G5 is now the upper third embellishment of E5. So: D5-F5, E5-G5. This adjustment lays the groundwork for the final diminutions (continuous 16ths), which suddenly, cadenza-like, soar up to a high Bb before completing the cadence with C#-D.

Below is a closer look at the moment described above. At *1, F is pushed back into the previous beat. At *2, F is gone as a significant pitch: now it is simply an unaccented part of the scale. 

All of this suggests that one should be careful about jumping to conclusions about design (rather than expressive) significance of high pitches, including ^3. Here, the octave ambitus of the once-transposed Aeolian mode has priority.

van Eyck series, no. 5

"Lavignone": the first and simpler of two versions in the Fluyten-Lusthof. There is little to say about this one beyond that the sequential rise from ^5 to ^8 is as plain and clear as one will find anywhere. Like "Meysje wilje by," it also reinforces the basic importance of the modal ambitus (here, the octave D-D) as the frame for the melody.

van Eyck series, no. 4

"Meysje wilje by" (roughly "Miss, will you come here?") This tune is in the Mixolydian mode, and it shows the peculiar leanings of that mode toward its "subdominant": the Mixolydian mode is *not* an old-fashioned version of G major.

It is not surprising, then, that the interval space first expressed is C5-G5, that the space becomes D5-G5 as the tune goes on, or that the entire song is focused on ^8 in its upper voice. See below.

In the variation, van Eyck expands the space upwards and downwards to the octave A4-A5 -- see the box in the figure below -- which leads nicely into a broken two-voice texture in the cadence that ultimately gives us a complete octave space ^1-^8 in the final bar as well.

Reference for the title: Jacob van Eyck, Der Fluyten Lust-hof, edited by Winfried Michel and Hermien Teske (Winterthur: Amadeus Verlag, 1984). Michel and Teske (vol. 2, 57) mistakenly assume that the piece is in C major and ends on the dominant.

van Eyck series, no. 3

"Schasamisie vous re veille" (roughly, "Sweetheart, wake up") has four phrases, the third being repeated to make the fourth. See the phrase markings in the theme below.

In the first variation, the third phrase is played as in the theme, but then its repetition is diminished. See below, the diagonal lines aligning the two phrases. In the second last measure, G5 is introduced as an escape tone -- the step up/third down figure (here, F5-G5-E5) is one of the most common embellishments in 17th century music, both vocal and instrumental.

The pattern continues in the second variation: the third phrase from *variation 1* is played, and then further diminished as the fourth phrase. See below. In phrase 3, note that the third in the escape tone has been filled in (second last measure of phrase three); so, F5-G5-(F5)-E5. In phrase 4, the figure is further extended to reach A5 as a neighbor to G5.

Thus, there are four different versions of the phrase 3/phrase 4 group: (1) in the theme; (2) in the first variation; (3) the very slightly varied version in the second variation, phrase 3; and (4) in the second variation, phrase 4. The result gives a concise picture of ^2 arising out of the diminution of ^7. 

Reference for the title: Jacob van Eyck, Der Fluyten Lust-hof, edited by Winfried Michel and Hermien Teske (Winterthur: Amadeus Verlag, 1984).

van Eyck series, no. 2

The Lutheran chorale (derived from a chant melody) "Vater unser in Himmelreich" is "onse Vader" in the Fluyten-Lusthof. See the melody and van Eyck's first variation below. Note that his word for "diminished" is "gebroken," literally "broken." The variation holds closely to the melody but does introduce one interesting feature: at *1 in the second graphic, Eyck uses his diminution to realize the clausula vera. It's an unusual figure as a diminution; my guess is that he was making a reference to the upper register of the melody, reached most emphatically in the cadence of the second phrase.

If my guess is good, then we can assert that van Eyck was sensitive (and, really, why shouldn't he be?) to the arch and palindromic shape of the chorale, which moves its way gradually up, then down, a set of framing intervals. A glimpse of "Himmelreich," perhaps?

van Eyck series, no. 1

Thumbnail sketch of the history of rising cadence gestures from c. 1600 to 1770:

Figures of various types focusing on ^7-^8 may be found randomly in music before about 1700, including the archetypal ^5-^6-^7-^8 and ^8-^7-^6-^5-^5-^6-^7-^8 designs at a longer range of design. I have written about early examples in this PDF essay: rising lines; and about a surprising pocket of rising cadences in English Country dances in another essay: Playford. [NOTE: links were updated on 10 June 2016.]   By, and shortly after, 1700, however, two overwhelming influences effectively nullified the rising cadence: the stereotyped figures of Italian operatic and instrumental practices (especially in the so-called cadence galante) and the adoption of the gavotte as the standard for 2/4 contredanses in the French court. It was only after 1770, as the several waltzing dances became increasingly popular in German-speaking areas of central Europe, that the possibility of alternatives arose. By 1820, these were expressed, though in radically different ways, by Beethoven, Schubert, and the Rossini-influenced operas of Adolphe Adam. With the polka's quick rise to universal popularity in the 1840s and with Offenbach's operettas in the 1850s, the change was complete and rising cadence gestures became not just an alternative but a category equal to other cadence types.

This series of posts addresses the early history once again. As is well-known, in the 1640s the Dutch flutist Jacob van Eyck published a pair of remarkable volumes called Der Fluyten Lust-hof: vol Psalmen, Paduanen, Allemanden, Couranten, Balletten, Airs, &c. Konstigh en lieslyk gefigureert, met veel veranderingen. As the subtitle announces, the pieces -- all for solo flute (or solo treble instrument) -- range from Calvinist psalm tunes and well known chorales (such as Vater unser in Himmelreich) to dances and popular tunes. All of them are dressed with "divisions" (diminutions, or the technique that "breaks" a long note into smaller notes), most with multiple versions (met veel veranderingen).

A small number of the tunes have cadence gestures that rise from ^7 to ^8, and several have long-range linear figures that fit one or another model focused on ^8 or on rising from ^5. The first example is the simplest, Wel Jan, whose complete title is "Wel Jan wat drommel," roughly "Okay Jan, what about it?" There are two variations. The tune is reproduced below (remember that you can click on the thumbnail for a larger image), along with the first variation. (The second variation uses eighth-note divisions.)

An interesting comparison may be found in the endings of the theme and the two variations -- these are shown in the final figure below. Note at *1 the origin of a ^3 as an escape tone diminution of E5. Note at *2 that to finish with a final flourish van Eyck adds a bar not in the theme; it is only in this bar that an upper ^2 arises, clearly as an extended ornament of the original cadence.

Reference for the title: Jacob van Eyck, Der Fluyten Lust-hof, edited by Winfried Michel and Hermien Teske (Winterthur: Amadeus Verlag, 1984).

Country Dance "Duke of Edinburgh's Delight"

From John Johnson, "Twenty Four Country Dances" (1766); the PDF file is on IMSLP. The first strain is as clear a descent through the octave as can exist anywhere in the tonal music repertoire: every scale degree on the beat. The second strain is only slightly more complex: the obvious sequence pattern carries B4, not the lower G4, to C5, and then C5 to D5. From there the cadence follows as what I called a ^6-^5-^7-^8 figure in my 1987 JMT article.

Country Dance "Mum for that"

From John Johnson, "Twenty Four Country Dances" (1766); the PDF file is on IMSLP. The graphic below the score shows the strong -- and I think somewhat unusual -- frame of the sixth, Bb4-G5, along with one of the most clearly presented clausal vera endings I know. In Schenkerian terms, one would be obliged to pick the line down from Bb -- that strikes me as unmusical nonsense. In proto-background based linear terms, the sixth with a "stationary" G5 fits the tune beautifully.

intervals and lines in a Siciliana by Telemann

In 1735, Georg Philip Telemann published a set of 12 fantasias for solo violin. (Page on IMSLP.) These are surprisingly varied in design and style, but the sixth in E minor is quite traditional in its four-movement sonata da chiesa order. The first movement is a very expressive sarabande, the second is a fugue in presto tempo, the third is a siciliana, and the fourth is a sonata-like Allegro.

The siciliana is a simple--but, for Telemann, rare--example of a rising cadence gesture tied to a long-range intervallic design. The initial fourth D5-G5 is tentative, but confirmed in the third measure by a definite linear connection to A5. The second half unfolds a sixth B4-G5 systematically through a rising, partly chromatic, line.